I Challenge You

A couple years back, while at one of our fitness info
mastermind
meetings my buddy Craig “Magic Mike”
Ballantyne said something to our clients that struck
home with me.

He said, “take whatever timeline you have for your
goals and cut it in half.”

A few years prior to that I had told my wife that I’d
run a marathon with her. She runs marathons and
is really good at them.

Each year I’d put it off and tell myself I’d do the next
one with her.

That was until Craig got into my head about it.

So at that very moment I texted my wife and asked
her when her next marathon way.

She said “in six weeks, San Diego”

I said “sign me up”

This started what is now my six week challenge thingy
that I do.

I trained for and ran a marathon (26.2 miles) in six weeks.

And I am not designed to run – lol.

In those six weeks I learned a ton about myself….

And during that marathon I learned even more.

Here’s a post I did after the marathon that you might
want to check out.

26.2 things I learned while running a marathon

It wasn’t so much the marathon as it was the act of
declaring to all that I was going to run this thing in
six weeks come hell or high water.

LESSON: Publicly declare something – and do it.

It was the mental toughness that came with training
for a marathon and then running it.

My first training run was a one mile walk/jog (read trot)
that left me sore in the weirdest places.

Since I had to squeeze this training into my schedule
I was forced to run between the hours of 11PM and 2AM
depending on how long my runs were.

By week three I was running 5 miles at a time.

Week four I was doing 8 miles at a time.

And week five I did a 13 and a 15 mile run.

According to Jill (RunWithJill.com) if you can run
13.1 miles, you can run the whole 26.2.

She was right.

But it took some serious mental toughness.

Since that marathon I’ve done a challenge where I training
with a pro MMA King of The Cage champion.

Three week into that training I tore my right biceps
completely off the bone.

It rolled up into my shoulder like a venetian blind.

A new challenge had begun… to recover quickly from the
reattachment surgery and get back into training.

With my arm in a cast and full of staples and sutures I
started training my left side the next day after the
surgery.

People in the gym thought I was crazy.

Single arm up right row

Single arm dumbbell row

Single arm curls, presses, laterals, ect..

I got up to doing 95 lbs flat dumbbell presses with only
my left side.

My core strength was building up fast.

Even better is that my right arm was healing up quickly…

Bilateral innervation.

The cast came off in three weeks and six day as opposed to
six weeks.

The staples were pulled out two weeks ahead of schedule.

Physical therapy lasted just two weeks.

By week number six I was curling (very slowly) a soda
can.

The nerves were beginning to fire again.

It was time for a new challenge….

Burpees!

I had never done burpees.

I knew what they were, but frankly they just looked painful.

So I set out to do 100 burpees straight, telling myself that if
I do 100 straight then that gives me the right to never have to
do another burpee again.

It was a painful experience that lasted over 40 minutes …lol

But I did it.

I’m talking about full on burpees as described on Wikipedia
push up at the bottom and bull jump at the top.

And just yesterday I finished up my 100 days of beer challenge.

It may not sound like a challenge, but it is for someone who
doesn’t drink much at all.

Two to three beers a night for 100 days really plays a number
on your fitness level.

I lost my abs, and now the new challenge is to get them back
within the next six weeks.

Funny how when you start a journey down one road, it leads
to a totally new adventure down a different road.

I have more challenges coming…. salsa dancing, surfing,
guitar lessons and who know what else.

It’s been the best thing for me.

I’ve blown past limitations that I had set for myself and didn’t
even know it.

The benefit from all these challenges have impacted every
part of my life.

It was only supposed to be a marathon and nothing more.

It’s become so much more.

In business and in life in general you’ve got to step outside
of your comfort zone if you want to get to that next level.

I don’t know of a better or more fun way to get used to
stepping out of your comfort zone then with taking on
new challenges.

I challenge you to start your own challenge.

And if you want to publicly declare your challenge, then
feel free to post it up on my Facebook wall here…

http://Facebook.com/BedrosKeuilian

Committed to your success,

Bedros Keuilian